The IT Skeptichttp://www.itskeptic.org
This blog takes a critical look at IT's sillier moments with an icy blast of the techniques of the skeptic – consider the observable facts and question the underlying assumptions – as well as applying that other great Litmus test: common senseenIn praise of ITSM engagement modelshttp://www.itskeptic.org/content/praise-itsm-engagement-models
<p>When establishing the relationship with an external service provider (outsourcer), why do we document a whole operating model spanning both organisations? The whole point of outsourcing is that the supplier should be a black box, with inputs, outputs and performance requirements. What we need to define is the interface between the two entities, to ensure the operating models of each one mesh properly together. Define the connecting cogs, or the plug-and-socket - choose your analogy.</p>
<p>This is more efficient: we don't redundantly document processes which already exist, and are documented elsewhere. It is more effective: we focus on the gaps, specifying the requirements for change in each organisation in order to connect their operating models.</p>
<p>It seems this is pioneering stuff: there is very little published on what an engagement model should look like or how to develop and use it. So I built one.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/praise-itsm-engagement-models" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/praise-itsm-engagement-models#commentsITSMsupplierhttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2372Tue, 03 Mar 2015 08:04:41 +0000skeptic2372 at http://www.itskeptic.orgThe design police at Google say they'll push this site down the search rankingshttp://www.itskeptic.org/content/design-police-google-say-theyll-push-site-down-search-rankings
<p>This website has been told if I don't redesign it I will be punished by Google's search engine.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/design-police-google-say-theyll-push-site-down-search-rankings" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/design-police-google-say-theyll-push-site-down-search-rankings#commentsbloggooglewebhttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2441Tue, 24 Feb 2015 03:52:37 +0000skeptic2441 at http://www.itskeptic.orgwhat makes a successful bloghttp://www.itskeptic.org/content/what-makes-successful-blog
<p>While The IT Skeptic is not a hugely popular site I think it's fair to say it is a successful one. Certainly some people seem to think so: I'm often asked to comment on others' blogs or advise how to go about one.</p>
<p>The first question is why you blog; and hence what defines success for the blogger.</p>
<p>A blog serves any of three purposes:<br />
To communicate/share.<br />
To record ideas.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/what-makes-successful-blog" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/what-makes-successful-blog#commentsbloghttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2429Tue, 03 Feb 2015 02:00:21 +0000skeptic2429 at http://www.itskeptic.orgDevOpsRun: DevOps is great but what about Run?http://www.itskeptic.org/content/devopsrun
<p>Is there a bigger picture than <a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/define-devops">DevOps</a>? In theory no, it encompasses the whole IT lifecycle of services. But in practice it seems to me much DevOps discourse is still Build- and Transition-centric. We can expand thinking to all of DevOpsRun.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/devopsrun" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/devopsrun#commentsdevopshttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2409Tue, 20 Jan 2015 07:11:53 +0000skeptic2409 at http://www.itskeptic.orgService Portfolio Management is more important than programme or project portfoliohttp://www.itskeptic.org/content/service-portfolio-management-more-important-programme-or-project-portfolio
<p>There is a wonderful insight in ITIL that is seldom noticed and even less often understood </p>
<p>It is Service Portfolio Management (SPM).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/service-portfolio-management-more-important-programme-or-project-portfolio" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/service-portfolio-management-more-important-programme-or-project-portfolio#commentsportfolioprojecthttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2340Wed, 14 Jan 2015 04:41:59 +0000skeptic2340 at http://www.itskeptic.orgthe ITIL Squeeze in 2015http://www.itskeptic.org/content/itil-squeeze-2015
<p>AXELOS are doing a few troubling things lately, that may or may not point to an ITIL Squeeze in 2015 as AXELOS seek to capitalise on their purchase of ITIL (and the rest of the Best Practice portfolio) in order to meet their British Government payments.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/itil-squeeze-2015" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/itil-squeeze-2015#commentsAxelosITILPRINCE2Squeezehttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2432Thu, 08 Jan 2015 20:58:43 +0000skeptic2432 at http://www.itskeptic.orgje suis Charliehttp://www.itskeptic.org/content/je-suis-charlie
<p><img src='http://www.itskeptic.org/files/itskeptic/imagepicker/1/220px-Charliehebdo.jpg' alt='Image' class='imgp_img' width='220' height='287' /></p>
http://www.itskeptic.org/content/je-suis-charlie#commentshttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2434Thu, 08 Jan 2015 02:48:53 +0000skeptic2434 at http://www.itskeptic.orgThank-you and Merry Christmas from the IT Skeptichttp://www.itskeptic.org/content/thank-you-and-merry-christmas-it-skeptic
<p><img src='http://www.itskeptic.org/files/itskeptic/imagepicker/1/xmas_canstockphoto2518154.jpg' alt='Xmas reindeer' class='imgp_img' width='400' height='114' /><br />
In this holiday season I'm sending out special thank-you to all the loyal followers of this blog</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/thank-you-and-merry-christmas-it-skeptic" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/thank-you-and-merry-christmas-it-skeptic#commentsblogoptimismhttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2425Thu, 25 Dec 2014 09:46:08 +0000skeptic2425 at http://www.itskeptic.orgSkep's reading listhttp://www.itskeptic.org/content/skeps-reading-list
<p>These are some of the books I consider REALLY important for me on the topic of managing IT</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/skeps-reading-list" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/skeps-reading-list#commentsbookshttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2234Wed, 17 Dec 2014 09:05:10 +0000skeptic2234 at http://www.itskeptic.orgThere is no such thing as NoOps: it is an awful wordhttp://www.itskeptic.org/content/there-no-such-thing-noops-and-it-awful-word
<p>There is no term I detest more than "NoOps". NoOps means nothing runs, which means the business comes to a halt.</p>
<p>"NoOps" is provocative, alienating, patronising and demeaning to those who care about Ops. There will always be a science of making it run good and safe. There will always be Ops as an activity and function and skillset. Please erase this hideous word from your vocabulary. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/there-no-such-thing-noops-and-it-awful-word" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/there-no-such-thing-noops-and-it-awful-word#commentsdevopshttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2424Thu, 11 Dec 2014 10:27:17 +0000skeptic2424 at http://www.itskeptic.orgUber, big brother, and company use of big datahttp://www.itskeptic.org/content/uber-big-brother-and-company-use-big-data
<p>There's social privacy (hiding from the state) and personal privacy (hiding from your neighbours). Where do corporations fit in?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/uber-big-brother-and-company-use-big-data" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/uber-big-brother-and-company-use-big-data#commentsanonymityBig Uncleprivacyhttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2426Tue, 09 Dec 2014 19:56:26 +0000skeptic2426 at http://www.itskeptic.orgDefine DevOps: What is DevOps?http://www.itskeptic.org/content/define-devops
<p>A reader asked me to define DevOps. It's not easy to find definitions. Here's mine.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/define-devops" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/define-devops#commentsdevopshttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2428Sat, 29 Nov 2014 08:32:06 +0000skeptic2428 at http://www.itskeptic.orgISACA's strategy and missed opportunityhttp://www.itskeptic.org/content/isacas-strategy-and-missed-opportunity
<p>is ISACA missing its window of opportunity to own the IT practices space? To be THE body of knowledge, the one ring to rule them all...</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/isacas-strategy-and-missed-opportunity" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/isacas-strategy-and-missed-opportunity#commentsCobiTISACApracticehttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2427Thu, 27 Nov 2014 22:11:20 +0000skeptic2427 at http://www.itskeptic.orgIT is not a snowflake http://www.itskeptic.org/content/it-not-snowflake
<p>We behave as if IT's problems are unique. But I suspect it's not so. I reckon other sectors wrestle with similar problems.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/it-not-snowflake" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/it-not-snowflake#commentshttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2420Mon, 17 Nov 2014 09:00:19 +0000skeptic2420 at http://www.itskeptic.orgReflections on DevOps Enterprise conference http://www.itskeptic.org/content/reflections-devops-enterprise-conference
<p>Recently I had the privilege to attend <a href="http://devopsenterprise.io/" target="_blank">the DevOps Enterprise conference</a> in San Francisco, hashtag #DOES14. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/DOES2014" target="_blank">Videos here</a>.</p>
<p>That conference was put together by a number of people, but perhaps we owe it to this guy more than anyone: Gene Kim</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/reflections-devops-enterprise-conference" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/reflections-devops-enterprise-conference#commentsdevopsKamuhttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2413Thu, 13 Nov 2014 08:41:36 +0000skeptic2413 at http://www.itskeptic.orgAxelos are dropping ITIL complementary certificationshttp://www.itskeptic.org/content/axelos-are-dropping-itil-complementary-certifications
<p><img src='http://www.itskeptic.org/files/itskeptic/imagepicker/1/thumbs/sir_axealot_canstockphoto6811067.jpg' alt='Image' style="float: left;margin-right:3em" class='imgp_img' width='80' height='100' />The creeping squeeze: Axelos will no longer recognise Complementary certifications for ITIL qualifications. I can't see anything positive for the ITIL community in this. In fact the only interpretation I can imagine is an attempt by Axelos to weaken competition.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/axelos-are-dropping-itil-complementary-certifications" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/axelos-are-dropping-itil-complementary-certifications#commentsAxeloscertificationITILhttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2419Fri, 07 Nov 2014 23:28:15 +0000skeptic2419 at http://www.itskeptic.orgThe Wright Cyclehttp://www.itskeptic.org/content/wright-cycle
<p>Before there was <a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/real-it-realit-information-technology">RealIT</a>, there was <a href="http://www.realitsm.com">realitsm</a> ("realism"), a spoof on ITSM. Here, from the book <i>Introduction to Real ITSM</i>, is the Wright Cycle:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/wright-cycle" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/wright-cycle#commentsRealitsmhttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2423Wed, 05 Nov 2014 09:19:16 +0000skeptic2423 at http://www.itskeptic.orgthe state of prISMhttp://www.itskeptic.org/content/state-prism
<p>How is <a href="http://www.theprisminstitute.org/" target="_blank">the prISM Institute</a> progressing? Know what it is? No, most people don't.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/state-prism" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/state-prism#commentsprISMhttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2417Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:16:53 +0000skeptic2417 at http://www.itskeptic.orgSoftware is free like a puppy is freehttp://www.itskeptic.org/content/software-free-puppy-free
<p>Sofware is free like a puppy is free: the ongoing costs of ownership outweigh the initial price.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.itskeptic.org/content/software-free-puppy-free" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.itskeptic.org/content/software-free-puppy-free#commentshttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2410Wed, 29 Oct 2014 08:45:29 +0000skeptic2410 at http://www.itskeptic.orgDo you know the professional recognition of individuals in Service Management Institute, a.k.a. prISM?http://www.itskeptic.org/content/do-you-know-professional-recognition-individuals-service-management-institute-aka-prism
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http://www.itskeptic.org/content/do-you-know-professional-recognition-individuals-service-management-institute-aka-prism#commentshttp://www.itskeptic.org/crss/node/2414Mon, 27 Oct 2014 03:38:13 +0000skeptic2414 at http://www.itskeptic.org